Waterborne Illness

How much do you trust the water from your garden hose?

Would you bathe in it?

Cook with it?

Drink it?

If you live in an industrialized nation like the United States, chances are you could safely trust it for all three.

But many populations within the poverty-stricken countries Food For The Poor serves can’t afford such a luxury. Sources of water are often difficult to come by in the Third World, and those that do exist are subject to contamination by waterborne disease like cholera, dysentery, viral hepatitis, and typhoid. Such diseases are caused by pathogenic microorganisms transmitted through human and animal waste in rivers and lakes. Communities that don’t yet benefit from Food For The Poor’s water filtration units have no choice but to use these polluted sources for bathing, cooking, and drinking.

Here’s a rundown of 4 waterborne diseases common within Latin America and the Caribbean:

Cholera

Cholera is an intestinal infection caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholera and transmitted through human and animal waste. Cholera is most often found and spread in places with ineffective water treatment, poor sanitation, and inadequate hygiene.

Symptoms: Watery diarrhea, vomiting, and leg cramps. A rapid loss of body fluids leads to dehydration and shock. Without treatment, death can occur within hours.

Distribution: Cholera remains endemic in much of Africa and South and Southeast Asia. Haiti’s cholera outbreak was confirmed on October 21, 2010, and has since spread to all provinces within the country. Nearly 200,000 cases have been reported and more than 4,000 people have died, according to Haitian health officials. The disease has spread to bordering Dominican Republic, and suspected cases of cholera have since been reported in Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela.

Fact: In 2009, 45 countries reported 221,226 cholera cases and 4,946 cholera deaths (case-fatality rate 2.24%) to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Dysentery

Dysentery is, essentially, bloody diarrhea. It is most often caused by Shigella species (bacillary dysentery) or Entamoeba histolytica (amoebic dysentery, or amebiasis).

Symptoms: Watery diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting, abdominal pain, fever, and general malaise

Distribution: Outbreaks of dysentery are most likely in tropical, overcrowded areas and where poor hygiene practices exist.

Fact: Some people with dysentery may carry the parasite for weeks to years, often without symptoms.

Hepatits A & E

Hepatitis A & E are inflammations of the liver caused by the Hepatitis A virus (HAV) or the Hepatitis E virus (HEV) through the ingestion of fecal matter.

Symptoms: Onset of fever, body weakness, loss of appetite, nausea, and abdominal discomfort, followed by jaundice within a few days. The disease may range from mild (lasting 1-2 weeks) to severely disabling (lasting several months).

Distribution: Both Hepatitis A and E are found worldwide and are frequent in countries with poor sanitary and hygienic conditions. People living in refugee camps or overcrowded temporary housing after natural disasters can be at particular risk. Hepatitis A is endemic throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Hepatitis E is highly endemic in Mexico.

Fact: HAV can live outside the body for months, depending on the environmental conditions.

Typhoid Fever

Typhoid Fever is a life-threatening illness caused by the bacterium Salmonella Typhi. Contracted by eating food or drinking beverages that have been handled by a contaminated person or if sewage contaminated with Salmonella Typhi bacteria gets into water used for drinking or washing food. It is also possible to contract typhoid by eating shellfish taken from sewage-contaminated beds.

Symptoms: Sustained fever, stomach pains, headache, loss of appetite, weakness, rose-colored spots on the chest, and enlarged spleen and liver.

Distribution: Typhoid fever is endemic in Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Oceania. It is common where hand washing is less frequent and water is likely to be contaminated with sewage.

Fact: Typhoid "carriers" can recover from typhoid fever but continue to carry and spread the bacteria.

- February 2011